I'm Not There

I’m Not There is a piece by piece take on the diverse life of legendary musician and the ever enigmatic Bob Dylan. In this film we have emulators of Dylan each having something do with the life of the great talent.

An experimental art venture involving the nature and turns in Dylan’s life is played by six actors. Woody (Marcus) a black child obsessed with folk music; Jack Rollins (Bale) a revolutionary folk singer; Arthur (Wishaw) who takes to lyrical poetry; Robbie (Ledger) an established actor whose marriage crumbles under the weight of his lifestyle; Billy (Gere) the outlaw who echoes Dylan’s craze with the Old West; and Jude Quinn (Blanchett) a popular folk singer who tries to find a way out from the press and the world just as Dylan did in the 1960s.

This film altogether presents a challenging task over what approach a film critic should take on the constant changes in genres and thematic presentation for the story to be fully understood. If the usual method of watch and feel is employed, this film fails terribly in conveying what it wants to say.

The constant transition from black&white to colours and back again; the pseudo-documentary look presents a diverse visual style changing the very mood of each scene. It will be difficult for any ordinary film audience to understand the artistic nature and finally the story.

Dylan’s fans may also not be too happy as the film goes way out of context and fictionalisation. However, this film on Dylan’s life does open the third eye.

While the stars all fare well in their efforts, Cate Blanchett is the best among them. She plays a perfect ‘he’.
Like the title, Dylan is not there physically in this film but his songs are played in the background and it is only towards the end that one gets to know that this film is about Dylan. Crazy flick with its unorthodox narrative will work only for fans of ardent art film lovers and of course for Dylan fans.
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English (A)
Cast: Cate Blanchett, Ben Whishaw, Christian Bale, Richard Gere, Marcus Carl Franklin, Nick Twiney, Denise Roberts, Heath Ledger
Director: Todd Haynes